Still riding high off the success of “John Wick: Chapter 4”, Lionsgate Television and Thunder Road Pictures have revealed the new teaser posters for the upcoming spin-off miniseries titled “The Continental”. The three-part series will stream exclusively on Peacock this September and is helmed by showrunners Greg Coolidge and Kirk Ward.
The title refers to the “chain” of hotels in the John Wick movies that serve as a safe haven for members of the criminal underworld. They each have their individual owners, but they operate under the authority of the High Table, a council of twelve crime lords that govern the underworld’s most powerful syndicates. The New York Continental is ran by Winston Scott (played in the movies by the great Ian McShane). The miniseries is set in the 1970s and will show how a younger Winston (played by Colin Woodell) came to run the New York Continental.
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out considering it’s a story set within the John Wick universe that won’t feature the eponymous character or it’s star, Keanu Reeves. It’s also not being directed by Chad Stahelski who has led all four feature films. So there are plenty of questions. But there is also lots of potential. The John Wick universe is a rich and vibrant world filled with colorful and charismatic characters. There’s so much to explore. And what better place to start than the Continental Hotel.
Are you excited for “The Continental”? Will you be watching it this Fall? What do you think of the new posters?
Netflix has a new movie scheduled for Mother’s Day, and it’s a far cry from some soft and lathery family drama or rom-com. “The Mother” looks to be a full-on action thriller that sees Jennifer Lopez coming face-to-face with the old life she tried to put behind her. The film is directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”, “Mulan”) and also stars Joseph Fiennes, Gael García Bernal, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick, and Paul Raci. The new trailer gives us a really good taste of what we have to look forward to.
Lopez plays a mother who comes out of hiding to find her kidnapped daughter. After cutting a deal with the FBI following a botched mission that left several agents dead, her character went off the grid in order to protect her young daughter. Years pass and her now 12-year-old daughter is taken by enemies from her past. She immediately goes on the hunt and will do anything to get her little girl back. I like the look and sound of this. Sure, there are elements of the story that ring familiar. But I love seeing J-Lo letting loose like this.
“The Mother” premieres on Netflix May 12th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
We get a refreshingly ‘indie’ take on the zombie sub-genre with Adam William Cahill’s infectious (bad pun intended) Irish horror comedy “Follow the Dead”. This fun, kooky, at times gleefully irreverent romp bops along on the strengths of Cahill’s keen direction, his even better screenplay, and a fine cast who bring a playful energy to their colorful collection of characters. At the same time, there is some unexpected thematic heft and a surprising amount of heart that help this to be more than come copy-and-paste zombie flick.
At times the film’s modest budget is hard to miss. But like other good filmmakers, Cahill (serving as director, screenwriter, editor, and co-producer) doesn’t let that sink his ship which says a lot. In fact, some of the best showcases of good filmmaking is watching a confident and skilled writer-director overcome any constraints by the sheer quality of their craft. We certainly see that in “Follow the Dead”.
Robbie (Luke Corcoran) is your garden variety milquetoast. He’s a bit timid, lacks self-confidence, and doesn’t seem to know what he wants out of life. He recently moved back to his small Irish hometown where he lives with his sister, an aspiring YouTuber named Liv (Marybeth Herron) and his two cousins, the conspiracy theorist Jay (Luke Collins) and the lazy deadbeat Chi (Tadhg Devery). They’re an offbeat group and most of our time is spent in their company.
When a video of some sort of attack in Dublin goes viral, finding the truth among the wild theories and fake news proves difficult. The authorities are calling it a terrorist attack. Others call it a revolution. And then some are quick to usher in the zombie apocalypse. Robbie and his crew certainly have their ideas. But when the violence begins to spread – even making its way to their small town – the group comes face-to-face with the truth. And not just about the attacks, but about themselves.
Cahill maneuvers through his story well, leaning heavier on the comedy than the horror, but also bringing a sensibility that I wasn’t really expecting. It’s clear he cares about his characters, and some of their exchanges can be as heartfelt as they are hilarious. There are several perfectly delivered zingers, and a couple of running gags that landed every time. Yet there are also tender moments between Robbie and his eccentric family. Then you have his attempts at reconnecting with an old flame named Kate (Christina Ryan), an interesting character who I wish had been given more attention.
The movie is a little slow getting out of the gate, but once it does (particularly in the second half) most things begin to click into place. But there are a few noticeable holes in the story and the “rules” of this particular world remained a little murky. Also, there were a couple of moments where the shaky transitions to and from flashbacks weren’t quite as clear as they needed to be.
But overall “Follow the Dead” is an entertaining and big-hearted zom-com that embraces some of the genre’s many tropes, pokes fun at others, and has enough of its own flavor to stand out in the crowd. There are some genuinely good laughs and it has an emotional center which resonated with me more than I anticipated. As for Cahill, he does a really good job juggling the shifting tones, and he shrewdly works around the film’s budget restraints in ways befitting a seasoned director. It’s a rock-solid first feature and it’ll be fun seeing what he does next. “Follow the Dead” is currently streaming on Tubi.
The trailer for the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe landed today and what can I say, “The Marvels” certainly looks like an MCU movie. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing will probably depend on how you view the current state of the MCU. Me, it kinda plays like I expected – very light, whimsical, and light on stakes. To be fair, it’s just a trailer so it’s hard to get a good gauge. But this first look doesn’t exactly ease my hesitation.
“The Marvels” sees Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) swapping places with each other every time one of them uses their powers. It’s played more for comedy in the trailer, but I’m assuming (and hoping) there’s some kind of serious threat. Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, adding a little old-school MCU weight to the story. How it will turns out is anyone’s guess. The trailer has a very ‘television’ feel to it, but again it’s a small sample size. What’s more concerning is that it doesn’t exactly boost my excitement for the movie. Who knows, maybe that’ll change.
“The Marvels” hits theaters November 10th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Ben Affleck hops back into the director’s chair and re-teams with his longtime best friend Matt Damon to share the origin story of Nike’s lucrative Air Jordan basketball shoeline. The appropriately titled “Air” marks the fifth time Affleck has stepped behind the camera and the first time since 2016’s “Live By Night”. While that movie wasn’t exactly well received, it (as with each of his directorial efforts) showed off Affleck’s keen instincts as a filmmaker.
Originally slated to premiere on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, Amazon Studios made an exciting move and gave “Air” and exclusive theatrical release. Not a bad decision considering how much people love sports movies. But “Air” isn’t your run-of-the-mill sports movie. It’s more of a corporate story than anything else, but one inseparable from the game of basketball and the from the man many people believe is the greatest player of all-time – Michael Jordan.
“Air” is a biographical sports drama but with a sharp sense of humor. There are some big laughs scattered throughout its rather meaty two-hour runtime. But there’s also heart, some unexpected charm, and a crowd-pleasing feel-good component that’s sure to win people over. There’s some great dialogue (written by Alex Convery) and some terrific on-screen chemistry that’s energized by top-notch performances from an all-around superb cast. And it’s all brought together and ushered along by Affleck’s keen direction.
But while its story is easy to get into and it has no trouble holding your attention, it is weirdly contained. What I mean is, “Air” never really goes beyond the corporate aspect of the story. The signing of Michael Jordan by Nike had a major impact on sports marketing, players, and the culture moving forward. But outside of a brief speech, one phone call, and some post-movie script, there is scarcely any context and these broader implications are mostly unexplored. It’s a narrative choice and there’s nothing wrong with a film having such a laser focus. But so much ripe material is left on the vine.
Another effect (or consequence, depending on how you look at it) of the story’s self-restriction involves the characters. They’re actually really good at fleshing out their corporate world and revealing the corporate processes that led to Nike securing Michael Jordan. As mentioned, there’s some great office chemistry as key players laugh, argue, and wrangle. But unless you already know about the real-life people behind these characters, you won’t know much about them after seeing the film. They’re kept in such a tight box that we don’t get to know any of them outside of their jobs.
That being said, Affleck does a terrific job of sucking us into the fast-moving wheel-and-deal story of a shoe company in need of a big score. It’s 1984 and Nike is far from being the powerhouse it is today. In fact, they were trailing both Converse and Adidas in total market share. Nike was strong when it came to running shoes, but they were lagging behind in basketball. They desperately needed a big name to wear their shoes.
Coming off an annual loss, the pressure was on to energize the struggling basketball division. Enter Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon), Nike’s basketball talent scout. Sonny is a little reckless and he’s a gambler by nature, but he knows basketball. He and the marketing team have $250,000 to spend recruiting three young players from this year’s crop of NBA rookies. Names like Barkley and Stockton are on the board. But Sonny locks onto one name – the third pick in the 1984 NBA draft, Michael Jordan. The problem is, Jordan already has his heart set on signing with Adidas.
But Sonny believes in Jordan and crafts a go-for-broke plan. He recommends using their entire $250,000 on one player – an unproven kid from Wilmington, North Carolina who has yet to play a second in the NBA. First he’ll have to convince CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) to go along. Phil was once a risk-taker who went from selling sneakers out of the back of his Plymouth Valiant to co-founding the Oregon-based Nike, Inc. But now he’s beholden to a board of directors after the company went public. Getting him onboard won’t be easy.
Another hurdle is Jordan’s agent David Falk (an overcooked portrayal played by Chris Messina). Falk doesn’t think Nike is a serious player and he already has strong verbal offers from Nike’s competitors. So Sonny takes a gamble. He bypasses Michael’s agent and goes straight to his parents, Deloris (Viola Davis) and James (played by Davis’ real-life husband Julius Tennon), making his case for building a shoeline around their superstar-to-be son.
It’s no surprise that the movie reshapes some of the real-life events and leaves out several details of the true story. But we still get the gist of it, and Affleck makes sure we have fun in the process. The performances are a big reason why. They’re terrific from top to bottom (I haven’t even talked about Jason Bateman as VP of Marketing Rob Strasser and Chris Tucker as Nike executive Howard White – both are great). They all fit nicely with the questionable hair, Members Only jackets, and 80s needle drops. And while the movie certainly could’ve been more, what we get is still pretty enjoyable. “Air” is now showing in theaters ahead of its Prime Video release.
There’s just something that feels right about Owen Wilson in an offbeat indie comedy playing a soft-spoken Bob Ross-esque television painter. That’s exactly what we get in the aptly titled “Paint” from writer-director Brit McAdams. Wilson has always been able to slide right into the skins of his many eccentric and slightly maladjusted characters. TV artist Carl Nargle is certainly in the actor’s wheelhouse.
This silly, slightly uneven, but often funny feature is mostly set in and around a Burlington, Vermont public television station and lives off of the inherent wackiness of its lead character. Wilson’s Bob Ross inspired performance is spot-on, overtly calling back to the late real-life artist and PBS staple. That ends up being enough to keep things entertaining while also making the story’s handful of misfires easier to get past.
“Paint with Carl Nargle” has been Vermont’s top-rated painting show for nearly three decades. It’s made Carl somewhat of a regional celebrity, with his loyal viewers entranced by each stroke of his brush and every whisper-soft word he utters. He even has groupies at the station who wait on him hand and foot and who vie for their chance to “go to a special place” with Carl (often in the back of his van). Meanwhile, the station’s assistant manager and Carl’s old flame, Katherine (Michaela Watkins) endures it all while secretly considering a new job offering in Albany.
Image Courtesy of IFC Films
In very Bob Ross fashion, Carl’s show consists of him painting one landscape per episode (mostly of the nearby Mount Mansfield, but no one seems to mind). Carl seems content with his local fame, yet deep down what he wants most is to have a painting in the Burlington Museum of Art. Unfortunately for him, the museum’s crusty curator Dr. Bradford Lenihan (Michael Pemberton) has no interest in Carl’s work.
Meanwhile budget cuts are making things tough on the station’s director, Tony (Stephen Root). To pep things up, he brings in a younger and more energetic new painter named Ambrosia (Ciara Renée). As she grows more popular she quickly begins stealing Carl’s thunder. Soon they have a full-blown rivalry between the old stalwart and the fresh new flavor. It all comes to a head during a hysterical PBS telethon where McAdams really shows his instincts for good comedy. But after that high point, the movie slowly loses some of its steam.
It’s the story that begins to sputter. And even at an economic 96 minutes, it has a hard time filling its running time. That’s not to say there aren’t still funny moments sprinkled throughout. Quite the opposite. The humor stays pretty consistent with McAdams utilizing Wilson’s comic quirkiness in a variety of fun ways. It’s the story itself that loses its zing. There’s a good central storyline about Carl’s deflated ego leading him to finally see what’s important in life. It’s the relationship stuff that just doesn’t click.
Image Courtesy of IFC Films
The biggest victim of this happens to be one of the more interesting characters – Katherine. Watkins gives a really good performance and it’s a role that deep down has a lot of potential. But the script handcuffs her character with weird choices that aren’t at all convincing. Take the awkward and seemingly out of the blue fling she has with Ambrosia. Nothing about it feels authentic or necessary. Then there’s her relationship with Carl – not so much where it ends up, but the questionable path it takes to get there. None of it does her character any favors.
All of that said, McAdams still hits many of his marks and fans of offbeat low-key humor (and Owen Wilson) will find things to enjoy. Just know “Paint” is in no way close to biographical. But it certainly plays around with Bob Ross’ likeness, from his distinctly tranquil demeanor to that unmistakable perm. Those of us who fell under the incredibly gifted artist’s spell while watching “The Joy of Painting” will get a kick out of how McAdams uses his well established image.
As for those who are unfamiliar with Ross and his popularity, I’m curious to see how the movie plays for them. I doubt they’ll get much out of the many references and nods which are scattered throughout its brisk runtime. And I know the film’s mellow and restrained sense of humor won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. For me, those were some of the film’s most admirable strengths. It’s some of the second half storytelling that ultimately holds it back. “Paint” is now showing in select theaters.
Keith & the Movies 